In this informal, diarized YouTube video, Victor Justin Rhodes leads a group of friends (Jonah, Annie, Dara, Chris, Lou, etc.) through a full-day poultry butchering session. The team prepares killing cones, scalders, plucking equipment, and evisceration tables, then proceeds to slaughter and process roughly ten turkeys and ten hens, followed by a batch of chickens. Rhodes explains practical details such as removing feed from the crop before slaughter, using water buckets to catch blood, and the importance of not hitting bone with the knife. The group discusses anatomy (gizzard, egg, crop), safety protocols, and compares their method to a more brutal Kenyan technique. They encounter a minor equipment hiccup with an Energizer outlet, resolve it, and continue. The session emphasizes teamwork, timing (goal to finish by lunch), and post‑butchering steps like cooling, bagging, and composting. At the end, Rhodes mentions a more detailed instructional series on raising and butchering turkeys that will be hosted on the Abundance Plus community platform, inviting viewers to join.
Chapters
Killing cones. We're killing our turkeys and some friends' chickens. They're gonna help us kill turkeys, we're gonna help them kill chickens. Buckets of water to catch the blood. Aprons.
Sharp knives.
Scalders for loosening for loosening up their feathers. Buckler, getting their feathers off. Tables for eviscerating. Tub for cooling them off. 10 turkeys today and probably about 10 hens. These are our turkey dinners. I forgot to pull their feed last night. We went there Feed goes down into their crop right below their neck. It's best if they don't have any in there while we butcher, or it's sometimes it can be a mess. Take it out this morning. We'll kill the little chickens first, big fat old lady hens first, and then we'll get these guys. Arrangement. I got some parts coming later today to be able to secure that to the fence to make it pig-proof or beef— big old beefcake-proof. It's that time. Our friends will be here any minute. I had to use the Energizer outlet for our scalding. It's like a— is it 220, 240? What is that? And cows got— they know it, they know when that fence isn't hitting. Turn it off, turn it off! It's— oh, it's not connected. Okay, we're good. Jonah was still handling it. Try it now, guys. Okay, we got the Energizer in and we— is the scalding plugged back in? Yeah, it says so. Okay, our friends are here, they're gonna bring up the chicken. You'll never believe I made it a point to start this early this morning. The boys unplugged it. Who unplugged it? Jonah. Not you, of course. So they, they did that to get the— oh, he flipped the switch to turn off the fence to the cat. So you thought the Energizer was connected? Yeah, you're turning off the Energizer by flipping the switch, but really you're just turning off the water. I should have told y'all I did— I was doing that. Nice, there it is. All right, you butchered before, Chris. But not like this. This will be the first time you've had a Kenyan experience, right? Which you were telling me they just spread them out on the ground, put one foot on each— on each wing and cut the head off. Savage. I could eat those chickens after, man. That's a turkey count. Uh, chiddlers. That's a turkey count. We're gonna do those next. So we are finally getting our our water to heat. We're like almost an hour late because of that. 146. We're close enough. You want 145, 150? All right, let's do 3, Jenna. I'll walk them through. Let's get 3 going just to keep things moving. You're gonna be able to wield the knife? You, you've only got 4 left. Jonah giving us an anatomy lesson. Yeah, we're looking at— I know, yeah, that's the gizzard. This is the egg. There's an egg. Oh, that's an egg!
Ah, do you want to eat that?
You can eat that. You can eat that. Do 2 at a time. I just want to get this guy soaking. Uh, Annie, you want to get a couple more in here? Do you Fords want to kill a bird? All right, let's pluck this thing. Our friends are amazed at how good of a job this plucker does. It never ceases to amaze me. Look at that.
All right, turn it off.
Ta-da! You guys are getting your hands greasy.
Oh my gosh, more like nutty. There you go. Now you can use the knife to get this way.
After you hear the crunch, you can use the knife. You coaching them?
Yeah.
Farmer Rhodes, Farmer Jonah. So how does this compare to Kenyan butcherings?
I didn't ever do that.
Oh, you did?
I did watch from a distance, and they would like just step on the head, and then like, at that point, you know, I mean, doing it like kind of stuff. This is a lot smoother. I like this better.
Cutting around the necks. Again. Don't hit the bone with your knife. All right, let's go get the turkeys. Lou, you want to go with us?
No.
Well, they should tell us the truth. They have no idea what's coming, and that's the way it should be. Peaceful transportation from here over to the butchering station. We'll hand them to you, Annie. Make sure you hold them both wings so you don't get hit in the head. Where are you holding it? Here, I'm just doing anything. Okay, okay, just so it doesn't—
yeah, great, doesn't claw you either.
Basically just grab one if you can. Grab it on the neck.
There you go, good job.
7 chickens in less than an hour. It's 9:30. Goal is to kill, well, and bag by 11:30. The only difference here is they're stronger. We got to use a bigger cone. And then it's pretty much the same after that. Oh God, what happened?
I got scratched by a claw.
Let me see that. Catching them?
Uh, y'all handed them to me. Oh, I mean, it happens.
You know how that we're cutting these throats, the heart's still beating, so the heart is beating all the blood out of the body. If you ever get store-bought chicken and you see a lot of purple, especially then around their bones, most likely because they, they don't slit— they're not allowed to slit their throats. They have to— they're shocking them. Scared them out.
There we go.
Teamwork.
Thank you, Justin.
I scolded it too long. That one break anywhere? Some of these have been breaking. Let's just barely pluck it. Made sure I didn't break it.
That's the last.
That's a big Wow, you guys got— you guys got better.
We got better at it.
Yes. I forgot to take out their food. Look at this, it's a little bit of a pain. Watch this. 3 seconds. That's it.
Wow, that's amazing.
Are y'all still cold? Yeah, hands are. All right, next up Let's, let's get these old— these young turkeys in the old turkey's place. All right, you're gonna take the goose, put her with the compost posse, right? Nobody's with them.
Yeah.
All right, happy day for them turkeys. More space. Open-air coop. Oh, they're happy. And our meat goes, uh-oh, right downstairs. More where that came from in about a little under 2 months. What'd you make us, Dara?
Uh, my lazy man's lasagna and panna cotta.
Okay, is it good? Yes, everybody's mouth's full. Y'all earned it. Enjoy that pork. Anything but chicken on the butchering day. Annie, how'd we do it? We butchered and bagged before lunch.
All before lunch.
Yeah, I think that's a first. Normally we are doing 100.
True, and you usually have more hands when you have that many, so yeah, this morning was really educational. Yeah, we took our time.
I've put together an instructional on how to raise turkeys from poults to full grown, plus I filmed a how to butcher a turkey today. We cannot show that on YouTube. I'm putting both of those inside Abundance Plus. If you guys want to get in there, it's a free trial right now. Get in there. I'll be in there hanging out. We'll post something in the community too so that I can interact with y'all. See you guys there. Happy day.
